Early-life stress, corpus callosum development, hippocampal volumetrics, and anxious behavior in male nonhuman primates.

Publication Type	Academic Article
Authors	Jackowski A, Perera T, Abdallah C, Garrido G, Tang C, Martinez J, Mathew S, Gorman J, Rosenblum L, Smith E, Dwork A, Shungu D, Kaffman A, Gelernter J, Coplan J, Kaufman J
Journal	Psychiatry Res
Volume	192
Issue	1
Pagination	37-44
Date Published	03/05/2011
ISSN	0165-1781
Keywords	Anxiety, Corpus Callosum, Hippocampus, Stress, Psychological
Abstract	Male bonnet monkeys (Macaca radiata) were subjected to the variable foraging demand (VFD) early stress paradigm as infants, MRI scans were completed an average of 4 years later, and behavioral assessments of anxiety and ex-vivo corpus callosum (CC) measurements were made when animals were fully matured. VFD rearing was associated with smaller CC size, CC measurements were found to correlate with fearful behavior in adulthood, and ex-vivo CC assessments showed high consistency with earlier MRI measures. Region of interest (ROI) hippocampus and whole brain voxel-based morphometry assessments were also completed and VFD rearing was associated with reduced hippocampus and inferior and middle temporal gyri volumes. The animals were also characterized according to serotonin transporter genotype (5-HTTLPR), and the effect of genotype on imaging parameters was explored. The current findings highlight the importance of future research to better understand the effects of stress on brain development in multiple regions, including the corpus callosum, hippocampus, and other regions involved in emotion processing. Nonhuman primates provide a powerful model to unravel the mechanisms by which early stress and genetic makeup interact to produce long-term changes in brain development, stress reactivity, and risk for psychiatric disorders.
DOI	10.1016/j.pscychresns.2010.11.006
PubMed ID	21377844
PubMed Central ID	PMC4090111